Freckles and Frost
by riizahawkeye
Summary: Jackson Overland lives in the small town of Burgess. He led a normal life there with his parents and younger sister Emma. One day, a new girl moves to Burgess and the whole place is turned upside down. Human!Jack X OC
1. Cold Winter's Day

**AN: Hey guys! This is my first time ever attempting to write a fanfiction, so we'll see where this goes! I saw this fanart and I decided to write a story about it. milady666()deviantart()com/art/past memories 344356104 Just replace the parentheses with dots and spaces with hyphens and it'll take you to the fanart. Hope you enjoy!**

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It was just another cold winter's day in the small town of Burgess. Jack Overland slowly opened his eyes to hear his sister, Emma, giggling and saying something to him. "Wait, what?" He asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Come on Jack it's time to get up! Oh and look outside IT'S SNOWING!" She exclaimed, jumping around his room. Jack giggled seeing her so excited over the simple thing of going outside to play.

"Alright, alright. Just let me have breakfast and maybe wake up a little first…" He said jokingly. He could tell she'd been waiting for a while to come and wake him up and she was about to burst if she had to wait any longer

"Nooooo Jack I wanna go now!" She whined, crossing her arms and pouting her lips. Did she seriously think that would work on him?

"Ugh fine. Just eating breakfast and getting dressed. Then we will go play. Okay?" Jack gave in. He wasn't going to make her wait anyways. He tried to hide it, but he was just as excited to go play in the snow. Even though he was sixteen years old he would never be too old for a good snowball fight. He rolled out of bed and walked out into the kitchen area to see his mom cooking and his dad crafting something out of wood but he couldn't quite tell what it was yet. "Hey Mom. What's for breakfast?"

"Leftover meat from last night." She simply replied. That's when he realized something wrong. His mom had dark circles under her eyes and looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep last night and his usually loud and obnoxious father wasn't saying a word. He didn't want to ask what was up because it didn't seem like anything he wanted to hear so he just sat at the table without another word. Emma then burst into the room trying to brush her hair and look for something at the same time.

"Mom, where's my other mitten?" She asked as she got down on all fours and looked under the couch but came back with nothing.

"Emma, you're kidding right? You just got that pair last week." Dad had finally spoken up and he didn't seem happy. Emma was always losing things but who was he to blame her? She's only eight years old. All eight year olds lose stuff constantly.

She just looked at her feet, embarrassed that she'd lost one already. "I know Dad I wore them yesterday when we went into town, but I know I had both of them when we got home…" She trailed off at the end, trying to rack her brain to remember where she saw it last. Jack started thinking too. Where could she have put the thing? Then he remembered where they found her mittens last time she lost them.

"Hey Emma, did you check the toy box?" Jack asked and his mom gave him a look.

"Why on Earth would it be in the toy box?" His mom asked, and she sounded like she was at her wits end with both him and Emma.

"I'm just asking because that's where it was last time. Jeez…" He'd said the last part under his breath but obviously his mother heard him and she shot him another death stare. My God, what was with her this morning?

Ignoring their little argument, Emma ran over to the toy box and fished out the other mitten from the bottom. "Found it!" She yelled out, completely unaware of the amount of tension in the room.

"See, what did I tell you? Let's go play now!" Jack said, unable to hold in his eagerness anymore. He got up from the table and started walking towards the coat rack until he felt a hand grab him by the shirt, pulling him back.

"Wait a second Jack. You didn't even eat your breakfast!" His mother nagged him. He just sighed and sat back down to eat a few bites of chicken.

"There, you happy?" He asked sarcastically and looked at her.

"I really don't like your attitude this morning Jackson."

"Since when do you call me Jackson?" The last time she'd called him that was when he'd fallen from a tree and almost broken his leg last summer. She was so mad at him for climbing up that high in the trees even though she knew he always did that. But that was months ago, so why was she so mad just because he didn't feel like eating breakfast?

"I just- it's nothing. Sorry. Make sure you bundle up good and be back for lunch. And no, you can't go back out after lunch because we have to go to a town meeting today. A new family came last night and is going to be living here." His mother said, already answering the question he was about to ask.

"Ugh, fine." It was already nine o'clock in the morning. That's only three hours, which is nothing for playing in the snow.

Jack and Emma put on their thick winter coats made out of bear fur. Sure they were warm, but they were so bulky and annoying that both of them took them off the second they got outside. Jack waved goodbye to his mother before opening the door and leading Emma outside with him. The snow almost reached Jack's knees and he laughed as Emma got buried in snow that went up to her thighs. She giggled and exclaimed "YAAAY SNOW!" Then she fell on her back into the snow to make a snow angel.

Jack laughed and fell next to her to make one too. He tried to get up and not ruin it but he stepped all over it trying to get up. Oh well, he could help Emma up so hers would look nice. He reached down and picked her up by the waist and she giggled the entire time. He put her down next to him so she could see the snow angels. She just laughed saying, "Jack yours looks so stupid!"

"Oh I'm going to get you back for saying that." He ditched his coat in the snow and picked up a handful of snow and started making a snowball out of it. Emma ripped off her coat too and started to run away as he began pelting her with snowballs. They laughed and threw snowballs at each other all morning until they were sitting under a tree trying to catch their breath.

Jack glanced at the lake in front of their house which was completely frozen over but he and Emma never stepped onto that ice. He knew he was just being paranoid, but all winter he would overhear his parents talking about someone falling into ice and drowning in some nearby town. He was snapped back to reality by his little sister talking to him.

"Jack, do you think its noon yet?" She asked, looking up at the sun.

Oh crap, Jack thought. He'd totally forgotten their little curfew and by the looks of it had to be closer to one. Jack groaned inwardly. Today was about the worst day to forget because his mom seemed so irritable today. He just sighed and looked over at Emma. "Pretty sure. Let's head back."

They got up and trudged through the snow back toward the house. They grabbed their coats, which were now soaked through from sitting in the snow for so long, and put them on. Jack opened the door to see that the clock on the mantle read 1:04. They were so dead.

"Where have you two been?" His dad asked, sounding calm but Jack could see in his eyes that he had been worrying about them. Their mother was not in the room, probably doing laundry or something, and Jack was relieved that he wouldn't have to listen to her nag him.

"Sorry…we got into a snowball fight and I guess I just lost track of the time." He said as he started to rub the back of his neck nervously. He really needed to stop doing that.

"Jack, if you can't be responsible and-" His dad started but Jack cut him off.

"Look Dad, I said I was sorry. Can we just drop this, please?"

"No we cannot. It's about time you stopped acting like a little child and acted more like an adult." His dad responded, obviously angry with him.

Jack rolled his eyes. His dad was always nagging him to grow up even though he was only a teenager. Pretty soon he'd be talking about how Jack should be looking for a wife just like he always did.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me boy, this is serious. If you ask me you should be looking for a good wife at your age, but I'm cutting you some slack since there aren't that many young ladies in town…" His dad continued rambling but Jack was tuning him out. He didn't want to think about marriage. It wasn't even legal for him to get married until he was seventeen anyway, so why did he always have to do this?

Jack just sat down on the couch and started picking at his nails. He noticed then that Emma had run off somewhere. She was here a second ago….

"JACK ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?" His father boomed from across the room.

He jumped at the sound of his father's yelling. "Uh…yeah. As you were saying?" He couldn't wait for this conversation to end. He hated when his dad ranted like this. Luckily though Jack's mother walked in and saved him.

"Alright Harold, that's enough. He's only sixteen you know."

Jack took advantage of the distraction to go to his bedroom. While brushing past his mom he whispered "Thank you" to her so that his father wouldn't hear. She just rolled her eyes at him as he went back to his room. He sat down on the bed and realized that there was absolutely nothing for him to do in here. Jack had only been sitting there for a few minutes and he was bored already. He opened the window and started to climb out in his bare feet and no jacket or anything to keep him warm. He had always been fond of the cold and didn't mind the below freezing air at all. But soon his luck ran out as his mom walked past his room in the hall and saw what he was doing, placing her hands on her hips. Jack froze, still standing in the window. His mom couldn't stand when he snuck out, especially underdressed like he was into the snow.

"Jack, didn't we agree you weren't going to sneak out anymore? Not to mention that we have to go to a town meeting in less than an hour." She said in an accusing tone. He knew he was totally screwed because she hadn't even started on what he was wearing.

"Yeah I know Mom but there's nothing to do here an-" He started trying to explain but she was having none of it.

"You could play a game with Emma or, I don't know, maybe spend some time with family? Would that kill you Jack?" That shut him up. He closed the window slowly and sat down on his bed staring at his hands in his lap.

"Sorry." His voice came out so quiet. He always hated that he would feel so guilty over the stupidest things. His mom came over to him and gave him a kiss on the forehead. She then opened up his dresser drawer and started rummaging through his clothes.

"You're going to have to change out of those soaked clothes and put on something warm." She said, and he gave her a scowl. She knew he hated wearing bulky warm clothes. "No buts." She added at the end. He fell back onto his bed and let out a puff of air. He could see his breath from keeping the window open for so long and got lost in his thoughts, watching the puffs of air appear and then dissipate. He really didn't want to go to this stupid meeting, but he still put on the outfit his mother laid out and got ready to leave.


	2. A Playful Afternoon

Jack walked a little behind his family as they headed into the center of town to greet the newcomers. A lot of people were already there and talking to the new family. Jack saw his friend Will in the crowd and since he couldn't see or reach the front of the crowd he walked over to ask him who they were. Will turned to see Jack walking towards him and waved. "Hey Jack! What's up?"

Jack just shrugged off his question since it was obvious what he was doing. "Hi. So, who are these people?"

"They say they came from a town a few towns over. It's a couple and their daughter who's our age. They don't seem very interesting." Will said, looking bored out of his mind. Jack didn't blame him. Nothing was even happening here, so why did the whole town have to gather like this? A few people at the front had to leave for whatever reason so he quickly took their place. He saw and average looking man with a brown ponytail and scruffy beard. He was fairly tall; his head higher than anyone else's in the crowd. The woman standing next to him, who Jack assumed was his wife, was a short and skinny woman with dirty blonde hair pulled back into a tight bun on the back of her head. She looked aged beyond her years.

Then their daughter turned away from whoever she was having a conversation and caught Jack's gaze making his breathing stop for a second. The first thing he noticed about her was the freckles dotted all over her cheeks and nose. There was so many! She was a very pretty girl with shoulder length slightly wavy dirty blonde hair like her mother's. Her eyes were a stunning shade of purple which shocked Jack because he didn't even know it was possible to have eyes that color. He then realized that he was staring and stepped forward to shake her hand in a friendly gesture, trying to cover up any awkwardness.

"Hi there, my name's Jack. Yours?" Jack gave her a little smile.

She smiled brightly back to reveal perfectly white teeth. My God, does this girl have any flaws? "Hi Jack! I'm Bianca. These are my parents, Paul and Lily. We just came from the town of Brooksville which really isn't that far from here. This place is so- I'm sorry I'm just babbling I do that a lot…" She said, talking a mile a minute.

Jack laughed a little. "No, it's fine really." He could see Emma out of the corner of his eye waving him that it was time to go. Jack sighed, hoping he could get to know Bianca a little more. They had barely gotten a chance to talk and she seemed interesting. "Alright well I gotta go. Anytime we could talk more?" He asked trying not to seem too hopeful.

Bianca was a little disappointed that he had to leave already, but at least she hadn't know him long enough to weird him out so much that he wanted nothing to do with her. "Yeah sure! We could talk tomorrow. Bye Jack." She was so excited. She could actually have some friends here! It was hard to stop herself from jumping up and down on the spot.

Jack turned and left with his family actually glad that he had come to this town meeting. Emma pulled at his sleeve to get his attention and he looked down at her. "Jack, who was that girl?" She asked, seeming extremely curious.

He didn't really know how to explain her considering they had only met not even two minutes ago. "Um…her name is Bianca." He realized that he knew nothing about this girl and yet he was so fascinated by her. Emma wasn't about to let him off the hook though.

"So where did she come from?" She tilted her head a little.

He tried to remember what she had said. He knew she had mentioned it sometime. Something with a B… "Brooksville! Not that far from here." He said happy with himself for remembering the little detail. His mom's head then snapped back and looked at him looking worried.

"Did you say Brooksville? They say that is a witch's town…" His mother said and Jack couldn't believe her.

"Oh come on Mom, you seriously believe that crap?" He asked, sounding a bit too sarcastic for his mother's liking.

"We cannot have this town's reputation tarnished by a witch girl." His mother stated coldly as they reached the house and went inside. She didn't seem like a witch, Bianca actually seemed very friendly to him. He decided to just ignore his mother's harsh comments and sat down on the couch. The sun was setting now and pretty soon they would head off to bed. The one thing Jack didn't like about winter was that they had to go to bed so early and wake up even earlier. Jack wanted it to be tomorrow so he could see Bianca again, but he immediately pushed the thought away. He didn't want to get his hopes up for nothing.

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Jack awoke the next day with the sun shining brightly into his room and right into his eyes. He squinted as he rolled to face the other way so he could actually open his eyes. He then got up and went into the main part of the house and sat at the kitchen table. "Morning guys." He said sleepily. He was glad to see the dark circles gone from under his mother's eyes and his father seemed lively as usual.

"Hey Jack my boy! So, got any plans for today? Hope not, because it's time for a hunting trip!" His father exclaimed loudly. God he was loud considering how early it was. Jack didn't really care until he remembered that he did, in fact, have plans.

"Uh Dad…I actually did have plans for today. I was going to go hang with my friends." He said, refusing to let on that he was seeing Bianca. Not that he wanted to keep secrets it's just that his mom didn't seem to like her too much.

"Well, you're going to have to cancel on them. I need your archery skills because with just my snares we won't have enough for the week!" His father said jokingly. Jack was a pretty good archer but he'd rather be having a snowball fight with his friend than out shooting. Maybe if he told them who he was going to see they would understand.

"No Dad this is kinda important. Bianca and I were gonna hang out today." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mom give him a look over her shoulder but then resumed cooking. His father simply waved him off oblivious to how badly Jack wanted to go.

"You can talk to your little girlfriend tomorrow. You know that Sunday is when we hunt." He said, and Jack couldn't help but get a little embarrassed about the girlfriend remark.

"Dad she's not my girlfriend we talked for two minutes yesterday that's it. And I really wanted to talk to her a little more today and I said I would so…" He trailed off at the end hoping he would get the point. His father was about to cave when his mother cut into their conversation.

"You are going hunting with your father and that's final. Bianca will understand." It was really tempting for Jack to whine but he knew that wouldn't make any difference. When his mother said something was final, it was. He groaned and leaned back in his chair. His mother then walked over and put a bowl of oatmeal in front of him and his father. Jack ate the tasteless mush and headed into the town with his father leading the way.

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"We're home!" Jack said as he walked into the door with their game slung over his shoulder. They had more than enough for this week which was better than not enough. They put it on the floor near the sink so that his father could skin it later. He looked up at the clock to see that it was only noon and that they still had daylight to burn. Jack looked at the door and smirked mischievously. While no one was looking he slipped out and went to the center of town where the rest of the kids of town would be.

As he walked he saw smoke coming from one of the houses that had been vacant for as long as he could remember. He knew that this had to be where Bianca and her family were living. _What a coincidence_, Jack thought,_ the closest house to ours is where she moves in._ He saw a group of his friends sitting in a circle in the snow and wondered what they were up to. They turned and saw him and waved him over.

"Hey guys! Where's Bianca?" He asked, wondering why she wasn't here with them. Everyone started to try and secretly glance at one another. Was something going on?

"She's really strange Jack. We don't want any part of her, and neither should you." Will said, trying to put it lightly. Jack was pretty annoyed that they had already judged and rejected her when she had just come here yesterday.

"And how do you know that? You barely know her!" He said, trying to keep his cool.

Another kid in the group, Matthew, then spoke up. "She doesn't stop talking and all she talks about are weird things like teeth and birds and how she loves this town and it's all such bull. She's obviously hiding something. Plus she's always reading weird books." Jack couldn't believe his ears.

"Seriously guys? You're so judgmental." He could have said a lot of rude things but he held his tongue, not in the mood for getting into a fist fight. He turned around and looked back at her house. He didn't care what they said, he was still curious about this girl. Without thinking he walked up to the house and knocked on the door. Her father answered the door and Jack wasn't sure what to say for a second but then cleared his throat and began.

"Hello there sir. Is Bianca there? I was just wondering because she said she wanted to hang out today." He tried to present himself the best he could. The last thing he wanted was making the wrong impression on her parents. The man didn't say anything to him and just turned and yelled, "Bianca! There's someone here to see you!" Jack heard a door open and close in the background and then Bianca came to the door and smiled.

"Jack! It's nice to see you. I honestly wasn't sure if you were going to come because I realized that it's Sunday and most families go hunting today. Sorry, I don't think." She said at rapid speed. Jack couldn't help but notice that her eyes were red and it looked like she had just been crying. He ignored it since she seemed perfectly fine right now. Maybe she was just cutting onions or something.

"Yeah we did go hunting but whatever I'm here now! Come on let's go do something. No point in just standing around." Jack said, gesturing for her to follow him. She giggled a little and followed him as he ran as fast as possible in the snow to the top of a hill behind her house.

"This hill is the best in town for sledding. In fact…"He said trailing off as he searched for the tree where hid his sled behind. "Aha!" He said as he pulled it out and dusted the snow off.

"I love sledding! But are you sure we aren't going to hit my house?" She asked, seeming worried that they might get hurt. Jack just blew her off.

"We'll go over here so that we don't the house." He said placing the sled down and sitting on it using his feet to make sure it didn't go yet. "Come on! There's room for one more." He smiled at her and patted the wood behind him. She looked at the sled and then to Jack and a small smile pulled at the corner of her lips. She got on putting her arms around his waist so that she wouldn't fall off.

"You ready? Here we go!" Jack exclaimed as he lifted his feet off the ground and put them on the front of the sled. The sled started slow but then got faster and faster until they reached top speed and the wind was blowing Bianca's hair in every direction. She let out a loud laugh and Jack couldn't help but laugh too. He always loved a good sled ride. When they reached the bottom the sled dug into the snow and nearly flung them off but Jack kept his hold.

"That was so much fun! I want to do it again!" Bianca exclaimed, sounding as excited as a six year old. Jack laughed as they ran up to the top of the hill and spent the rest of the afternoon sledding down the hill over and over again. When Jack noticed the sun starting to set he realized that he had missed dinner and was about to get the yelling at of a lifetime. He didn't care though because he had more fun than he'd had in a long time today. He walked her home which was only a few feet away.

"Today was so much fun Jack. We should do it again sometime!" She said giving him a quick smile. Jack felt butterflies in his stomach but tried not to let it show.

"We should. Alright, bye Bianca." He said as he turned and started to walk down to the path towards his own home. Before he didn't regret sneaking out one little bit, but now the regret was hitting him like a wrecking ball. They were all probably worried and his mom had clearly stated that he should stay home today. He closed his eyes as he opened the door wondering what would await him inside.

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**AN: Hey there guys! It's midnight right now and I just finished this but I'm too lazy to edit right now so I apologize for any mistakes or if it sounds really choppy. You get the idea. But anyways I'm super excited for this story! I have sooo many ideas just ask my friend Ally (perksofbeingstilessamandcamp bell on tumblr) she'll tell you how many ideas I've told her about. Anyways I hope you enjoyed this fluffy chapter! :)**


	3. Ups and Downs

**AN: Happy Presidents Day! Sorry this chapter is late. I would tell you I was busy when really it was just the result of pure procrastination. Hope you enjoy!**

*LINEBREAK*

Jack opened the front door of his house to see no one in the room except for Emma playing with her dolls on the floor. She looked up when she heard the door open. "Jack you're home!" She exclaimed as she scrambled up and ran over to hug him. He lifted her up into his arms once she reached him.

"Hey kiddo. So where are Mom and Dad?" He asked since it was too quiet for anyone else to be there with them.

"They had to go somewhere. They said I couldn't come and that you were supposed to watch me but you weren't here." She told him and Jack felt so guilty. Why didn't his parents ever tell him when he was supposed to watch his sister? I mean, Mom said he should stay home but not that he had to watch Emma. He sighed and then started wondering where they could have run off to.

"Sorry about that I didn't know I was supposed to watch you." He tried knowing that Emma got scared when she had to stay home alone. "So where did Mom and Dad go?" He asked hoping Emma could remember what they had said.

"They wouldn't tell me." She said and Jack put her down since his arms were getting tired from carrying her.

"Wait, they wouldn't tell you?" He asked, repeating her words in disbelief. "Why not?"

"They said it was none of my business." She said and looked down at her feet. He could tell by the look on her face that they hadn't said that but yelled it.

"Weird…" Jack said trying to think of where they might have gone. Before he could get any ideas though the door opened and his parents walked in the door. _This is not going to be pretty_ Jack thought.

"Uh, hi Mom. Hey Dad." Jack said trying to sound as casual as possible. "Where have you been?" He asked honestly curious where they had gone. His mother stepped forward so she was only a few inches from his face.

"I should be asking _you_ that, Jack. Where the hell have you been? I specifically said you had to stay home because you had to watch your sis-" But before she could finish Jack angrily cut her off.

"You never said that I had to watch her! What do you expect me to just magically know?" He yelled back annoyed with his mother. Then his mother did something Jack was not expecting at all. She raised a hand and gave him a hard slap across the face. The whole room went silent, all eyes on Jack.

"How dare you talk like that to me?" She yelled and then silence filled the room again. Jack couldn't even look up he was so ashamed. He just stared at his feet, using his hair to cover his face. It was very tempting for him to just snap and yell back at her but he didn't. Instead he turned and walked as fast as he could down the hall towards his room.

"We aren't done here young man!" She called after him but he barely heard her. He just went into his room and slammed the door as hard as he could. It was dark outside now so he could see his reflection in the window. There was a red handprint on the side of his face and tears were burning at the corners of his eyes. Not because it hurt or anything like that, but because he was so angry and embarrassed. He then heard a light knock on the door. His father's voice came from the other side.

"Jack, can I come in?" He asked quietly.

"No." Jack said sounding a bit colder than he had intended. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now. He heard his father let out a heavy sigh.

"Jack your mother only wants what's best for you." He tried but Jack wasn't having it. He was just standing in the middle of his room watching his reflection in the window and looking slightly past that at Bianca's house. He swallowed a lump in his throat and started to speak.

"If she did then she wouldn't have done that." He said just wanting his father to go away. Then he heard some whispering and his father's voice again.

"Of course she does Jack. She's your mother." That's when Jack caught on to what was going on outside of the door.

"If she does then why can't she just say it herself?" He asked, unable to keep the anger out of his voice any longer. He turned towards the door wondering what they were doing on the other side. He saw the door handle move slightly and then his father whisper "No." Then there were footsteps as they went to their own rooms to sleep. Jack blew out the candle on his dresser and walked over to his bed. He still had his clothes on but he didn't care. He laid down on top of the sheets, not wanting to put on the blanket. He wasn't cold.

No matter what he did though, he couldn't sleep. Today was so much fun and also terrible. He tried to focus on all of the fun he had with Bianca, but his thoughts always ended up drifting to his mother. After a while he cooled down a bit and started to think. He had to apologize tomorrow, big time. He shouldn't have said the things he did, he was just angry and couldn't think straight. Poor Emma had to sit there and watch the whole thing too. He groaned and shoved his face into the pillow. Why couldn't his brain shut up so he could just go to sleep already? After a few more hours of overthinking everything, he finally fell asleep.

*LINEBREAK*

Jack woke up late that morning since he hadn't slept much at all last night. He rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed. He looked down and remembered that he had slept in his clothes last night. He walked over to his dresser and put on some pajamas for show and walked out into the kitchen area.

"Good morning, Jack." His mother said, sounding perfectly happy. She was such an unpredictable person. He didn't even waste time saying greetings and just cut to the point.

"I- I'm sorry about what I said last night. I was wrong." He said looking at his mother hopefully. She smiled and walked over giving him a kiss on the forehead.

"I know you are." She then walked back over to the kitchen where she was showing Emma some of the basics of cooking. Jack sat down at the table and ate his breakfast of rabbit meat. Once he finished he put his plate in the kitchen and then sat back down at the table. He was afraid to ask if he could go out since yesterday's incident. Maybe his dad would let him if he mentioned he was seeing a girl. It was worth a shot.

"Hey Dad, could I go out today?" He asked, ready to argue if he said no.

"Of course! Just make sure to be back by sunset." He said cheerfully. Okay that was a bit too easy.

"Thanks." He said and went into his room to put on some fresh clothes, putting the pajamas he'd only wore for about ten minutes back into the drawer. He then walked out the door waving goodbye to his parents and sister. He could see a bunch of kids in a group where they always were and he could see Bianca there too. He was glad that she was fitting in with the others. But as he got closer he realized that he couldn't have been more wrong.

"Freak!"

"Witch girl!"

"You're not welcome here. Go back to Hell where you came from!"

He couldn't see Bianca's face, but he was sure that she was upset. He wasn't about to just let these people make fun of his new friend. He broke into a run so he could get to her before they could say anymore nasty remarks.

"Hey! What the hell is wrong with you guys?" He said, disgusted with their behavior. Even Will was laughing along with them which made him even angrier.

"I think you should be asking this freak what's wrong with her." One of the other girls there said, and he recognized her as Antonia. She was the richest girl in the entire village, but she wasn't exactly the friendliest.

"You guys just met her a few days ago. What do you know?" He asked them in disbelief. They really weren't the type to accept newcomers. Then Will stepped forward.

"C'mon man, there's no way you aren't suspicious of her. She just randomly decides to move here from a cursed town. If you ask me, I think she's a fugitive." He said as if Bianca wasn't even there. Jack was two seconds away from punching his old friend in the face.

"You have no proof of that. You're just being an idiot." He spat out angrily. He could have said a lot of meaner things, but decided against it. The other kids around them started to chant.

"Fight, fight, fight, fight." He looked around. He would gladly beat Will up for being so stupid and mean. He then saw Bianca looking at him.

"Jack, you don't have to do this for me." She said, pleading him not to do it.

"But I want to." He said before turning back to Will and decking him in the face. Will stumbled a bit from shock but then regained his footing and ran towards Jack in an attempt to tackle him. Jack just grabbed both of his forearms and pushed him back. He didn't want to wrestle, he could win a fist fight but he wasn't so sure about wrestling. Jack got in another punch this time landing right on Will's eye.

"You little fucker." Will grunted as he held his eye.

"Do you forfeit?" He asked, knowing that he would win if they kept going.

"Never." Will said as he let go if his eye and ran towards Jack. He went in for a punch but Jack grabbed his arm and twisted it painfully behind his back.

"How about now?" Jack asked. He had basically won now.

"I said never." He replied trying to wriggle out of Jack's iron grip. Jack smirked a little as he pushed Will over onto the ground and put a foot on top of him.

"I win." He said before walking away. The people in the crowd rushed forward to help their friend up. Jack knew none of them would want anything to do with him anymore but he didn't care. He didn't want anything to do with them either.

"Jack, wait!" Bianca called out after him. He turned as she ran to catch up with him.

"You do realize that they won't talk to you anymore right?" She asked, wishing he hadn't gone through all the trouble just for her sake.

"Yes, that was kind of the point." He said, looking at her. Was she even alright? They were being pretty mean to her. She stopped walking and put her hands on her hips. Jack turned and saw this and bit his lip to keep from bursting out laughing. She reminded him of Emma.

"Jack, that was still reckless. You weren't even thinking! He just said one thing and you punch him in the face without it even passing through your mind that he might have still wanted to be your friend. Who cares if he was mean to me, he never said anything bad about you." She said, annoyed with him for acting like that was nothing.

"True, he didn't say anything directly to me. I did that because it pissed me off that he was being so judgmental. If he's man enough, which I know he isn't, he'll apologize and things will go back to normal. Until then, I'm fine with not talking to him." He explained simply. It made perfect sense to him, but obviously not to Bianca. She gave him a look before speaking.

"It was still impulsive of you. And I think Will's not the only one who owes an apology. You're the one who punched him first and started the fight." She pointed out, hoping to at least spark a tiny bit of remorse in him.

"I'll apologize when he does." He said trying to reassure her. Will would never apologize though. He was one of the most stubborn people you have ever met. Jack looked at the sky to see that the sun would set in about an hour. "Alright, see you tomorrow Bianca." He said as he turned down the path and waved to her.

"Bye." She said waving back to him. That boy was so impulsive, she didn't know what she would do with him. She just shook her head and smiled, turning towards her own home.

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**AN: I know I had an author's note at the beginning but I feel like I need to point out that Jack's mother is bipolar. Since this is in colonial times they obviously didn't treat mental disorders so that's why she's kind of back and forth. It's rubbed off a tiny bit on Jack but not a lot. Thanks for reading! Reviews make me really happy to read so if you want you can write one.**


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